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Welcome to Bad News Weekly, your rundown of key attacks on voting rights and independent elections across the country – it’s a way to keep up with what the opponents of democracy are up to. We’ll highlight some of the worst anti-voter efforts, with a spotlight on the South, the original frontline in the fight for voting rights, and still its fiercest.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“We’ve learned over the course of our movement that when you want to get something done, you have to attach it to must-pass legislation,” – Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of far-right group Tea Party Patriots, on their new pressure campaign [ [link removed] ] to force the SAVE Act through the U.S. Senate.
NOTABLE TRENDS
U.S. Senator Alex Padilla & Rep. Joseph Morelle Allege CISA Staff Fear “Retribution” if They Work With State & Local Election Officials: A letter sent [ [link removed] ] by US Sen Alex Padilla (D) and US Rep Joseph Morelle to leaders at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) claimed that, despite public claims that the agency continues to provide services to election officials, they have “heard complaints that CISA staff may be afraid to work with state and local election officials and vendors for fear of retribution.” The lawmakers previously sent 3 other letters seeking answers about the agency’s election security operations, but the responses “offered little insight.”
As FBI Director Kash Patel And CIA Director Ratcliffe Push Right-Wing Conspiracies, FBI Hires Election Denier: Amid attempts from FBI Director Kash Patel and CIA Director Daniel to prove the government conspired against Donald Trump in regard to the 2020 election, the FBI has hired yet another election denier [ [link removed] ]. Marshall Yates, the new head of the FBI’s Office of Congressional Affairs, was chief of staff to Rep. Mo Brooks on January 6th and later joined the Election Integrity Network – a group headed by Cleta Mitchell, who supported Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election after he lost.
STATE ACTIVITY
Texas • Tarrant County Approved $46,000 for Software to Help “Clean” Voter Rolls: In 2024 [ [link removed] ], Tarrant County had 11 people file more than 15,000 challenges, with more than half of those challenges filed by one person, piling additional work on elections staff who were already busy preparing for a presidential election. In an effort to “reduce those challenges,” Tarrant County commissioners approved $46,000 for a year's access to skip-tracing software [ [link removed] ] to help identify voters who have died or moved away. According to Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig, there has not been an influx of challenges this year but he expects them to increase ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Indiana • Secretary of State Signs Federal Agreement With DHS To Identify Noncitizens on Voter Rolls: Indiana Secretary of State Diego signed an agreement with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the Department of Homeland Security that allows the state to access the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database [ [link removed] ] to verify citizenship of people on the state’s voter rolls. Opponents have previously argued that the SAVE database was designed for one-by-one verification, not massive datasets. There’s concern that using it at a large scale could risk inadvertently flagging some naturalized citizens.
ANTI-VOTING GROUP ACTIVITY
RNC Filed Motion to Intervene to Uphold New Kansas Law That Eliminated the 3-Day Grace Period for Mail Ballot Return: The Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a motion [ [link removed] ] to intervene in support of KS SB 4, a bill enacted earlier this year that eliminated the 3-day grace period for mail ballots to arrive after Election Day by requiring mail ballots to be returned by 7pm on Election Day to count, in a lawsuit challenging the law [ [link removed] ]. The RNC’s press release claimed that they sought to “defend the basic principle that all ballots must be received by Election Day.”
Far-Right GROUP Launches Pressure Campaign to Pass the SAVE Act through the Senate: The SAVE Act (H.R. 22), a bill that unfairly burdens citizens and requires them to provide proof of citizenship to vote, has been stalled in the U.S. Senate since it passed the House in April. But the far-right group, the Tea Party Patriots, is launching a pressure campaign [ [link removed] ] to force the bill into “must-pass” legislation in the fall. The group is launching a campaign in August entitled “Only Citizens Vote Month [ [link removed] ],” which will activate conservative volunteers to canvass, host rallies, and attempt to pressure Republican lawmakers in the hopes that they will attach the SAVE Act to a necessary piece of legislation before the year ends.
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